Press stuff that doesn't look so good

Not all press kits are great. Not even close. The most sought after are amazing but over the years I also collected some stuff that I never showed because I thought it wasn't worth it. But now I'm trying to put all my stuff together and take pictures of everything so I might as well take the chance to show the other stuff I have but never even mentioned.

These are the weakest press kits I have, which are basically nothing but books, dossiers or press papers with a promo disc or a press disc... Most were provided with a press disc I didn't target these things in particular. I have plenty of pics of those that I decided to post here.

08/02/2015 update: I obviously never ended up posting pics of these, unfortunately... hopefully some other time in the futre...

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Assassin's Creed Revelations, just one of 100 different editions made

Yeah... they did it again. How many different versions of Assassin's Creed Revelations exist around the world? Too many. I got what seemed to me the best version of this game. The package is great, despite not being your regular rectangular box. This one's a little b*tchy to store... The 3D effect isn't the greatest but heck it's just the package and looks good overall. The Encyclopaedia is amazing. The rest of the contents are the same as the regular Collector's Edition. Haven't tried the game yet as I just finished Dead Space 2 and will move on to other games now, so this one will stay for later. How would I rate this edition? The package is good, or should I say instead, looks good. It's a big box. The encyclopaedia is awesome but unfortunately it seems it's available for sale separately but I still have to confirm if it really is the same book or not. Considering its price I'd rate this as 8.0, mainly because of the book, since the contents are basically the same from the CE which is cheaper.

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It's all about MONEY. That's all there is to it.

Okay, so for the first time in my life I came to the point where collecting is becoming more and more a matter of business that's ruining the love that I and many other gamers have for this hobby.

When I first started to buy games from ebay and forums, I'd usually go there to avoid paying so much for the games that were sold for higher prices in shops. I also resorted to ebay to find games that either weren't released over here or were in fact rare. After all, you could find some second hand copies around, some of them still mint, for lower prices than the RRP. Recently, when the huge amount of limited edition started being released for almost every important game, this behaviour of buying multiple copies for making a profit is going sick. A bunch of no-lifers decide to preorder several of these limited editions, making shops run out of stock faster. And even if they are not sold out, they immediately pop up on ebay for higher prices. When certain editions really become limited, they are sold out on preorders but once you go to ebay, guess what... you find several copies for sale at ridiculously high prices ON PREORDER.

The greatest example of this greedy behaviour is what's been happening with the Collector's Edition of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, limited to 4000 units worldwide and only available for sale at one of the dorkiest retailers I've ever dealt with: www.zavvi.com. Considering their terrible costumer service, how they do even get the rights to sell something exclusive like this??

In only two days this edition was sold out. The next few days however, several appeared on ebay. The first ones started selling for nearly £100, but when the sellers realized they could make even more money because desperate fans who missed their opportunity to get that edition at the fair price are desperate to get it, prices went up to 200, 300, even 500... Several weeks or even months after this edition was sold out, even to this day the game still keeps popping up on ebay.

Even collectors ordered more than a copy claiming they want one to play and another one to keep sealed, using all kinds of excuses to prove that their attitude is perfectly justifiable. In the end, most people who do that are only thinking about how much this will be worth in the future and the profit they may do. They don't give a damn if they're stealing someone else's opportunity to get this game for the retail price. Whenever I just want another copy to play, I don't go wasting money on two expensive special editions. There are 4000 units of this one only, yet how many people will actually have one for the RRP? Not 4000 for sure. Not even remotely close to that. Who cares anyway? Those who missed the preorder and can't afford to pay 200 or 300 for it just go find something else to buy. People usually say "the value of certain games and editions depend on how much people are willing to pay for them". In the end, it's something more like "the value of certain games and editions depends on how much money you have to spend on it, because whether you like it a lot or just a little bit it's irrelevant cause you may/will not be able to buy it anyway".

This is a common fact not just for videogames, but nearly everything in life, including basic needs. But who cares? The only important thing is MONEY. You don't have it? Nobody cares. People die because they can't buy food and we just pretend we care about that. Then why the hell would we care about something as irrelevant as VIDEOGAMES? That would be ridiculous, right?

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How many Dragon Ball games are there already?

A lot... When I started to see the series at age 13, I never expected to see so many games still being made even 16 years later. That's quite impressive I must say.

I loved the PS2 titles, especially the Budokai series, but I wasn't so impressed with Tenkaichi games. I recognize they are good, but I liked Budokai's battle system most. I didn't play the recent titles for PS3 and Xbox besides the demo of the first Raging Blast but I really did not like the gameplay at all. I'm still missing Raging Blast 2 LE but I hope to find a cheaper copy when the price finally drops (stil waiting for it to happen...)

Now finally a new Dragon Ball game came out and this one has a bigger Collector's Edition boxset. It includes a regular copy of the game and a Limited Edition Gohan statue. The statue looks pretty good and is quite stylish, with enough detail for what you would expect from a Dragon Ball figure. I certainly am not sure why they added Gohan with that suit instead of a different figure, like Goku's. Anyway, I'd rate this edition 6.5/10. It's limited to 10000 copies but it isn't numbered and it's hard to tell if there are really 10000. The price of 80 euros wasn't that bad at all, considering the game's RRP and the price these statues usually cost. But, honestly, it lacks contents. The only thing this has is a statue and nothing else. Thankfully, the statue is good and overal this edition is still far better than Raging Blast 2 LE, that had almost nothing but a cell and a cardbox scenario.

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Sonic is back, and better than ever!

Oh boy... Sonic is one of the most famous videogame characters from the 2D era that couldn't deal very well with time. Ever since Sonic became 3D, the games were never the same. Most games were considered average or good at best but hardly any of them was a hit like the original Mega Drive and Mega CD titles. This time, however, I believe SEGA did a great great job! Sonic Generations is by far the best and most impressive Sonic game I have played in a long time and I simply love it.

To celebrate Sonic's 20th anniversary, this game also received a Collector's Edition. And I must say that this is another one of my favourites. It comes inside a very simplistic, yet great looking box with both Sonics facing each other. The game included is nothing more than the retail version with a slipcase. Inside the box there are two figurines, not very big but Sonic figures don't really need to look big because there really isn't the need to add too much detail on them and the bigger they are the plainer they look. These figurines are quite better that the one included with Sonic Colors, although the later is an articulated action figure but looks too cheap. They have a stand with the 20th anniversary logo and there's also a small ring from the game, really shiny, with its own stand. The fact that they made a figure for each Sonic is really sweet! Classic Sonic figure brings so much nostalgia and looks amazing. It also comes with two bonus discs: a soundtrack disc that includes a selection of music and a dvd with Sonic's history. Finally, there's the artbook, which isn't half bad either. Overall, this edition really fits Sonic's 20th anniversary. The contents are pretty nice too! I love it and I give it a 9/10. I's limited to 12000 units worldwide.

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Manbat

When Arkham Asylum came out, I was quite surprised to see that it was so good. It really is a great game. It's been a while since I played a Batman game and I must say that I never imagined a game like this would ever be done. Its sequel is quite impresive as well. And it deserved another Collector's Edition and several steelbooks etc. So far I only bought Batman: Arkham City Collector's Edition and I'll probably not get the steelbooks any time soon.

Anyway, This edition gets a 7/10 from me. The edition itself is not very big, which is a good thing because lately most major games receive very big boxes that take away a lot of space. The figure is small, yet heavy and quite detailed. Again, it's not impressive but does the job. The artbook is pretty small, not the sort of artbooks I love, and I really can't stand the fact that the game disc doesn't have its own box but comes inside the artbook. I really don't like that too much... Finally, the top piece of card inside the box that identifies the console cannot hold its place inside the box and as a result you can usually find that edition with the top card piece slightly off its place. However, a good thing about this edition is its release price, which is frankly quite good.

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It may be Drake's Deception, but it's not my deception for sure

Finally, Uncharted 3 came out! And with it, another incredible edition. The explorer edition, exclusive to Europe. I really had to get that one, and it wasn't as easy as I expected.

Overall, I rate this edition as 8/10. The figure is quite detailed but not as good or impressive as others like we've seen in Assassin's Creed or Gears of War 3 and Halo Reach. They surely could put some more effort on that figure in my opinion. The figure should also have a better box instead of just the plastic inserts, but that's a personal opinion. The necklace with the ring and the buckle are pretty cool items, especially the ring, and their quality is quite good. The 3d lenticular card is a little useless, not quite sure why they added that. It would be more interesting if they added a postcard set with or without these lenticular effects. The outer box is quite amazing, FAR superior to AC:B Codex Edition or GowIII Pandora's box. It's so much better it's hardly comparable. It does NOT look cheap, it's quite detailed and combines several materials, including wood. I liked it a lot, the only thing I don't like too much about these editions is when they come with a box and all items are loose inside it. The special edition included (also available for sale separately) is quite original as well because it really resembles Nathan's notebook and it's a small art book. The only let down is the way the disc is placed inside the notebook, which is quite stupid in my opinion. Still, it's one of my favourite editions, I like it a lot.

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Where are the pics dude???

I needed some time for myself because I was really tired from the daily working routine but I finally have some time to settle down a few things.

I'm working on updating this blog. First writing the stuff that goes in my mind. Pics will come later, hopefully by the weekend. There are plenty of things to add besides the ones I already wrote about. It's now 1:30 AM and here I am, writing crap about my collection, knowing that it will be a pain in the arse to get it off bed to go to work within a few hours. It's always the same thing but I can't go to sleep sooner, I need a couple of hours every day to do the stuff I love so I have to sacrifice a little bit of sleep. I have some friends at work who do nothing but work, go home to take care of all the daily tasks including taking care of their children... Phew... Life should be more than that :(

Just a bit longer, just a tiny bit longer and you'll have your pics added to each post.

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Professor Layton

Three games later, Nintendo decided to offer a special trilogy box for those who register the V.I.P. codes from the three games on Club Nintendo. Thankfully I have some really nice friends who sometimes sacrifice themselves in order to help me achieve happiness. Almost. Not quite... at all...

Ok, that sounds gay but I must thank Johnny for offering me his box after he knew that I really wanted to keep my copies of the game sealed (although I did play the games). It's nothing special at all but I am happy with this box. Took him a couple of months to give it to me, but I didn't try to buy it and he decided to offer it to me on his own. I wasn't really expecting that at all, but I feel this guy deserves some love!

Here I go being gay again. But thanks a lot Johnny bro!

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Two Collector's Editions, one that sucks and another one that doesn't.

The one that doesn't suck is Agarest Zero. The price was fair and this is another one of those unexpected titles to see the daylight in Europe. I'm quite glad this actually came out over here.

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The other one is Arcana Hearts. While the regular limited edition doesn't suck and the price is pretty nice...

...THIS STUPID SUGGOI OPPA FAN EDITION WAS PROBABLY SIMILAR TO HAVE A TERRORIST HYPNOTIZE YOU AND MAKE YOU PAY FOR THE CRAPPIEST LIMITED EDITION EVER MADE, EVEN WORST THAN THE SHIPPING BOX EDITION OF BLAZBLUE CONTINUUM SHIFT, CLAIMING THERE WERE ONLY 500 MADE AND YOU THOUGHT YOU'D BE MISSING SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT.

I basically paid nearly 3 times as much as the regular limited edition for a mouse mat and a keyring. Once again, this is NOT a special edition of any sort, because there is NOT a box to hold all the items together. This is just a £30 limited edition with a bonus mouse mat and keyring for £60 more! Just terrible! Seriously, I really thought those guys from that weird online store I hardly ever heard about had made their homework with the Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus Boxset, which is a really great collector's edition, expensive as HELL but really worth to own. It may be overpriced, but I could easily overcome the price when I saw the quality of the box and the items included. The numbered box alone, the canvas art, the artbook, the soundtrack disc and the game, plus the t-shirt and the keyring are more than enought to satisfy me. But this Arcana crap? Give me a break will ya???

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Castlevania and Megaman

Some people who know me a little better already know that my main goal at this moment is to try and collect all the retro versions of Megaman and Castlevania while keeping up with the latest limited and collector's editions. Due to the stupidly demand on press kits and the fact that I'm quite low on cash at this moment and I don't know what will happen in the future with my job, I am leaving the press kits behind for a while. I already missed many but I can't buy everything anyway and the massive amount of exclusive and limited editions being released at the same time make it impossible for me to keep up with everything so I have to make decisions...

I usually don't show just single games unless they're that special, but this is my blog and I post whatever I want to.

Getting all megaman games will be a pain. I have a complete NES PAL Set and X2 for the SNES. I still need to buy a lot of games for the GBA unfortunately. But at the very least I found an important game in a pretty good condition: Megaman IV for the original Gameboy. All games from Laguna seem to be a PAIN to get, and this one and V are by far the rarest for the Gameboy. Same goes with X3 for the SNES which will be my worst nightmare...

As far as Castlevania goes, I got a mint copy of Castlevania III that seems to be the hardest to find for the NES. And for the Gameboy I'm now missing only Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge because another nightmare was over when I found a copy of Castlevania Legends for a fairly decent price. As for Belmont's Revenge, it's not easy to find a complete copy but due to lack of money I failed to win a recent auction for a fair price. However, it's only a matter of time until another one pops up. I'm glad to have found a copy of Legends because that was the game causing me the bigger head ache.

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And since we are talking about rare games...

... I will also talk about another nightmarish game it took me years to find for a decent price. Several years ago I would be able to buy this game for a certain high price and I wasn't really willing to pay that much for it. But now? That price is now twice as much on almost every auction and that's unacceptable. Soon I figured I had to get this game once the opportunity showed up and that's what I did. This game is not THAT RARE, in fact is far more common than a few others I've recently bought. But its price is insane and just keeps rising...

I'm talking about Mega Man The Wily Wars for the Mega Drive, another pain of a game to get. I was expecting to find it one day at a second hand store or in an auction site besides ebay. But the thing is... this damn game never ever appeared! Even after several years searching. So yeah it's another title that was a pain to find. I finally got it. Another one to scratch off the list...

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Singstar? No, Not the sort of games I'd go out buying...

Yes they are fun to play with friends blah blah blah but I really don't feel like buying these games... unless of course they are something exclusive just as this particular Blue BBVA Pack that was only offered in Spain in a limited promotion for those who opened a blue account or whatever it was called. This pack is exclusive to that promotion and it's only found in Spain so I believe it's a toughie to find. I never ever heard about this before which is normal because I don't know what's going on in other countries that have websites or stores in different languages, but I stumbled across when I visited a 2nd hand store and they actually had this pack with the game still factory sealed. I called it a lucky shot. It's not something I love or even like that much but I bought it for collection purposes. The game included is nothing more than a copy of a regular Singstar game released in Spain, based in a spanish version of Pop Idol I believe.

It also hurts to say this but... I also bought another Singtstar game named Morangos com Açucar. That's was just... TOO WRONG to buy that game if it wasn't a Portuguese exclusive. It comes from a TV Show that (some people will kill me for saying this) sucks. It's mostly directed at young people with pimps that like stupid hair styles, kinky music, teenage love stories and first sexual experiences after masturbation. Even I had pimps and hate that show. And they released a Singstar game with the amazingly awesome soundtrack from the show. Oh well...

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A long time ago there was this game...

JRPGs have been for a very long time my favorite genre since I started playing them on the PS1. Before that, I thought they were boring, except for a few that came out for Saturn such as Dragon Force and Shining Force 3. Those were awesome games but unfortunately they were note very common over here and a 13 yo child cannot hold much to buy his new game and has to find a replacement as soon as possible. Oh boy... I did chose good games instead, but they are far more common... That's life for me...

When I first heard about this game, I really had no idea what it was. I thought it was a German exclusive, with German screen text only. It took me a while to find out a few things about this game. First, it had a totaly different name in japanese. Second, it was released in English and it received a sequel, but only in the US. I searched for videos and I immediately felt in love with the amazing soundtrack this game has for a 16bit game. The battle themes are simply epic, and I believe this was far more noticeable by the time the game came out. It's a big shame that I had no way to play this back then. I now consider it one of the greatest RPGs ever released on the SNES. Then I found out the game that was released in German was actually the sequel without the II on the title because the first game never came out in Europe. And finally, I wet my pants when I figured there was a PAL English version released in Australia only, AGAIN! I simply HAD to get it!

I'm talking about Lufia II - Rise of the Sinistrals or Estpolis Denki in Japan, which was released as Lufia only in Australia, Germany and probably a few other countries. As soon as I heard about the existence of a PAL English version, I had to get it. And it took me a couple of years until I finally had the chance to buy one. This game's pretty hard to find. First I ever saw in mint condition was sold for a pretty big price. They I saw a few others in good condition but not mint. Thankfully I managed to win the best used copy of this game I have ever found. The price was a little high, but considering the values I've seen these games in worse conditions go, it certainly was a great deal.

Another mission accomplished in my collection!

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More Duke?

Those guys at EB Games really love to spoil their costumers with exclusive editions of their own while they show the finger to the other collector's around the world. Thankfully I was able to find one edition that will probably become a pain to get in the future. I must say that it kinda sucks because it brings nothing special with it. It's quite inferior to the Balls of Steel Edition yet far more limited with only 1600 copies running around. I'm talking about Duke Nukem Forever King Edition. Mine is missing the bubble gum but should I care? I'd like to get the package alone, true, but a bubble gum will probably become rotten over the years. And that sucks. But I got the game, the unused code and the cards inside the limited edition case. And I'm not sure if it's me but all that stuff doesn't seem to fit inside the box that well... I got the PS3 version because it's more limited and basically because it was by far the cheapest I found out so far. I'm very happy with it.

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Some weird acessory from the 80s

I heard it's pretty uncommon... Not the sort of thing you can find lying around, especially in brand new condition. But for some weird reason quite a few of these popped up in recent times and I bought one for me. The NES Laser Scope with that kid on the cover... this looks really weird. I'm sure I'd freak out if I was given this when I was a kid. This is as ugly as it works (if that even makes any sense).

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Don't be a Brink!

This is not quite the game yet, but the exclusive limited tin released in Australia with extra contents. I'm glad I got it. Now just need to find the game for a rather cheap price because this is one of those games that doesn't mean a lot to me, if you know what I mean. I heard it's good. It may be but I highly dounbt I'll be playing this any time soon. Probably not.

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Tekken 6 and the hoodie thing

I had the Arcade edition since the release date. I actually OPENED it (WOW... I opened an edition!) and found out the ugliest cover I could possibly find out... WITH ALL AGE RATINGS FROM EVERY COUNTRY in a box that looks like one of those promo copies that costs NOTHING ang a huge manual in every language that doesn't even fit the box. The artbook is nice THANK GOD but at least it should have a hard cover.

Now I got the Limited Edition with the hoodie for the Xbox 360 for a rather cheap price. The box is in near mint condition. The reason why I didn't buy it sooner is because all the cheap boxes I could find seemed like someone chewed them and then pooped them. Yes they were that bad. But thankfully I now own both editions.

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A Strange Game

Did you think I missed this one? Emily The Strange for the NDS is a puzzle game based in some sort of cartoons I have never seen or heard in my entire life. But this underground edition is limited to 200 units individually numbered and includes a few exclusive items such as a notebook. My edition remains sealed and I plan on leaving it that way. This Emily the Strange raises many mysteries in my head because I have no idea what it's all about. That's really strange.

*goes to check wikipedia*

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Epic stuff arrived at home

Most people were probably expecting this game... I have only tried to play the first one for a little bit and it's good but got me bored quite fast. This game is also receiving epic scores and it's another one of those titles I expect to play some time in the future after I've cleared the ones I still need to finish first. And it will take some time, but I will play it one day. Yes you know what I'm talking about: Gears of War 3 Epic Edition. I got that thing. Expensive, yet worth it!

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